It's just Basketball
by Rianan D' Halmsu
Summary: Maybe getting kissed by a girl, whom he hardly knew, during a 'fight', wasn't really that bad.


**YEAH! Another RenTatsu fanfic by me~ Hope you all RenTatsu fan around like it!  
-**

**It's just Basketball**

It was the freaking summers. Ice cream, summer vacations, more ice-cream, sleep, rest, play video games and what not. Perfect.  
Well, not for Renji, though. He hated summers. After all, being a Shinigami, he did not have time to have ice-cream, nor did he have vacations. Life was cruel. The scorching sun and humid weather did not lighten up his mood, either.

The doors and windows of the buildings of the town were invariably shut. The humans lived such luxurious lives, unlike a certain fukutaicho, though. They had their air conditioners on, enjoying the cool. But not for him. He was busy saving their asses from Hollows. Ok, there were not _that _many Hollows, and if some appeared, they were the extremely low leveled ones- the ones he could easily defeat while sleeping.

He was stationed at the nostalgic Karakura Town again, and he did not enjoy it at all. Everything was same- same buildings, sky-scrapers and people. Ichigo had lost his powers, so he avoided meeting up with that bastard. But, if he concentrated harder, he could almost sense the carrot top's reiatsu along with that Ishida guy, Orihime and Chad.

With the end of the Winter War, things were more disturbing. People were still sick, and Unohana- taicho worked day and night to cure them with her amazing healing powers. There were heavy losses, yes, but Soul Society was almost turning back to normal. Renji couldn't rest either; he had to defeat Byakuya after all.

But now, after being stationed _here_, all he could do was run around the town like a deranged lunatic, dispose of Hollows, and then run around some more, repeating the same process again and again.

He was really annoyed. So, before repeating the dreaded process the umpteenth time, he got inside his gigai (which he had chucked of somewhere. And to find it he had to run around the town…. _Again.)_, and tried to find for a nice place, probably to take a nap.

Renji walked past the humans. A few high school girls gave him embarrassed glimpses, and when their eyes met, they would look down, red, and scurry away.

The city filled with people was not something he enjoyed at all, so he let his legs move and go wherever they wanted to; except for the Urahara Shop. The red haired brat annoyed the hell out of him. This town was freaking busy! There was not even a calm place! Annoyed some more, he decided to walk along the river.

This place hadn't changed at all- a bridge built overhead, stones of different colors scattered like grains; gray stones exceeding the black ones, and black stones exceeding the green ones. He gave a deep heavy sigh, finding his own presence here absolutely useless. He flopped down on the soft grass, and closed his eyes….  
…That was exactly when a orangish- brown ball, bounced of his face, and onto his lap. He yelled like a puppy, only louder.  
"WHAT THE HELL!" he clutched his knows, tight. His lack of sleep didn't help at all- in fact, it made it worse. The fukutaicho cursed under his breath.  
"I am sorry!" the girl, the owner of the dreaded ball, called out, running towards the Shinigami. She came to an abrupt halt. "…..pineapple…"

Oh great. His sleep gets disrupted by a ball- which bounced a hell lot- and then a black haired _teen_ comes and calls him a pineapple.

Disturbing his sleep was one, but commenting on his hair (especially since it was different)? That was a different matter entirely.

So, instead of leaving the matter, like a normal gentleman would have, he crashed the ball into the teen's face. "The hell do you think you are doing!"

"Giving you a taste of your own medicine." He replied, coolly, as he got up and dusted himself. "Girly."

That did it. Nobody, by that she meant, NOBODY called her 'girly', especially in _that_ sarcastic tone. At his end, he simply smiled. Girly? Was that all he could have thought of? _Girly?_ What was he? Awful at comebacks, he realized. Heck, after that tiny argument he wasn't even _sure_ whether the human was even a girl or not! Could've been a cross-dresser, for all he knew. But, those sharp eyes, long eyelashes and a feminine body structure proved his point.

'_Interesting…. Hope I don't get to meet her again. Big pain in the ass that would be." _He had no idea how terribly (and painfully) correct he was. Her foot planted on his butt, and he fell face first on the ground, his nose bleeding, this time. However, she did not even care or give a damn. The same leg got placed on his pack, as she treaded on it, her lips giving a maniac grin.

Renji's head swiveled around furiously, and he sweat dropped. The girl currently resembled a Demon sent straight from Hell, loomed over him, her face darkening. "What….. did you say…?" she asked menacingly.

Renji shivered. She was scary- almost resembling the Hollow Ichigo, minus the mask and orange hair. "Just what you heard." Renji replied, his reiatsu flaring a bit.

The girl was a bit taken aback for some reason. She blinked twice, and as if realizing something, she smirked. She bent down to come face to face with Renji, her feet still not leaving Renji's back. "So pineapple-"  
"The name's Renji." Renji scoffed.  
"Yeah, whatever. Sounds the same. Why don't we finish this with a Basketball match?"

~R~D~H~

Renji wanted to protest; he had no time for childish games. He was sleep deprived, and sleeping seemed so _fluffy_ currently. He did not want to play- Hey, wait. What was he playing, again? Something… something- ball. Yeah. That's right. The ball game. The name itself sounded so stupid. He tried to escape, but the teen, who introduced herself as Tatsuki Arisawa, had caught him by the back of his collar, and lowly whispered, her warm breath batting against his neck .  
'You will play, won't you?' she had said. Given how scary and manipulative she was, he had furiously nodded and uttered a wimpy 'Yes.'

She had left his collar, after that, much to his surprise. He figured that she trusted him, seeing that she had left him. But, after he turned around, he realized, 'trust' was far from what she was doing. The way she walked simply said this- 'If you don't come, you are gonna see a glimpse of Hell, pineapple'. If he had the guts to escape, and escaped, he wouldn't be surprised if she would track him down and demand a match.

After that, things pretty much happened. The next moment, he realized that he was standing in front of a huge building. The walls were creamy, and numerous glass windows opened up at the top.

Renji narrowed his eyes, suspiciously, as he saw the girl- no, his new 'enemy', push open the huge door with ease. Glancing at her calf and arms, he realized that she was really good at sports. Her sharp features also added that martial arts and/or hand-to-hand combat was also one of the things she did. He glanced down at the grass beneath him, embarrassed. He found himself as a pervert, at this point.

From inside, the hot headed chick called out. "Oi! Pineapple! Get the hell here!"  
Renji scowled- this was so not his day.

He got inside, anyway, ignoring his leg muscles which were screaming at him, shouting and ordering him to escape. "So, what do I have to do? What is this ball game, anyway?"

The long haired girl stopped mid-track. As if realizing something, she gave a confident smirk. No human would not know what basketball was, right? The rules were a different case, entirely, though. So, that only explained one thing- either this guy was horrible at sports (which she highly doubted. His features itself announced that sports was something he highly exceeded in.) or….

She knew it was the latter one. Also the unintentional hint given earlier, proved her point. "Whaat? You don't know what basketball is? From which centaury are ya?"

Renji stiffened. He needed an excuse. Fast.

Tatsuki gave a triumphant smile "Well, no matter. I'll explain it to a douche bag like you, anyway."Renji let the fact that she had changed his title from a fruit to a douche bag pass. She was a human girl. Keeping his temper on check was the least he could do.

"So," Tatsuki started, rotating the ball at the tip of her finger "Basically, throw the ball into that loop. The right ring is mine, the left is yors. If the ball is thrown from outside the third line, one gets 3 points. Throwing it from the 1st and 2nd lines will earn a person 2 or 3 points respectively. You have to dribble the ball like this, and run. " She demonstrated, and continued. "The first one to score 30 points wins."She halted the ball from spinning any further, and caught it on her palm. Sure of her victory, she added "The looser treats the winner. That's it."

"That's it?" Renji asked suspiciously. Truth to be told, the game sounded fairly easy. All he had to do was to throw the ball through the loop, right? He could do that. This game was pretty similar to the one Rukia, the others and he played, way back in Rukongai.

He always used to win then, so why couldn't he win now?

"So let's get over with this." Renji announced.  
"Yeah." Tatsuki simply agreed.

~R~D~H~

Tatsuki was an expert in this game, so she was kind enough to allow Renji to make the first move. Renji simply shrugged and took the ball; he did not want to take any risks. He smiled at how much she underestimated him.

"1….2….3!" T counted, and she dashed towards Renji. Renji, however, already predicting this movement, side stepped, dribbling the ball. He ran towards the left ring, ignoring the surprised look he got from the chick.

Tatsuki was surprised. Getting over it in a matter of seconds, she sped towards Renji. Soon they were side by side, Tatsuki keeping a greedy eye towards the ball. "You are pretty good, pineapple." She commented.

Renji took his eyes of the ball, and gave a smirk. "You praising me. That was a pleasant surprise?"

"Yeah?" she asked, sarcastically "Well, this is gonna be _more_ than a surprise!"

The next moment, she was in front of him, a smirk playing on her thin lips. Renji was a bit taken aback; this human was fast. He'd give her that. He wasn't particularly fazed, though. Instead, he was getting more interested in her at the minute. As soon as they were a few inches close, Renji jumped, aiming to throw the ball, from that distance. That would earn him 3 points.

"Not so fast, Shinigami."

Renji's eyes widened. The ball dropped on the ground, as his feet came in contact with the court. The ball was quickly snatched away by the teen, and all Renji could do was stare at her, as she got to the other side of the court. She gently, yet somehow forcefully, flung the ball through the air, and into the loop. "Two pints for me!" she exclaimed.

Renji snapped from the dilemma, and, wide-eyed, looked at the girl. She had just addressed him as a Shinigami! How did she know? he briefly checked whether he was in his Shinigami form or not. Missing the Shinigami's attire, he simply shrugged. It was not a big deal, right? This town had an immense amount of spiritually aware people, and many Shinigamis stationed here. It wouldn't be a surprise if people actually got to know about the Shinigamis; they were numerous in numbers.

But still. Why hadn't he noticed the huge amount of reiatsu that emitted itself from her?

"Oi! Oi! Pineapple!"

Renji's head snapped around, as he looked at the brown eyed teen, a few metres away from him. "What?" he snapped.  
"Sorry for breaking this to ya, but the match isn't particularly over."  
"Yeah, I know that, girly." He snapped again.

Tatsuki frowned for a moment, and then smiled. "Ah, if that is the case, pineapple, then why don't we start?"  
Renji gritted his teeth. Strangling the teen seemed so tempting now. However, he held his patience. She was a human girl, not Ichigo. "I am not a pineapple, dammit!"  
"Sure, sure." She grinned "Let's get to business, pineapple! That side of the court is mine, now. You take the right ring!"

Did she just change the ring? Ah, she was one heck of a girl, alright. And she was seriously underestimating him. He hadn't even started to get serious….. yet.

~R~D~H~

Snatching the ball from her wasn't exactly as 'easy' as he thought it would be. His first score was an extremely easy on- all he did was 'retrieve' the ball from the raven haired beauty, and without a second thought, he had flung the ball towards the ring. The ball had easily passed through the loop, winning a smile from Renji. Renji definitely thought that this had marked his victory. But, that wa when Tatsuki had realized that he wasn't an easy opponent.

So, she became serious.

And, man, when this lady was serious, she could put up a fight.

After thirty minutes of continuous snatching, cursing, tugging, jumping and what not, their scores were 29-27.

It would be an understatement to say that Renji did not enjoy this game. He immensely did. It had been a long time since he actually did something like this, besides training. It was somehow nostalgic. But, the game was not only the thing that he enjoyed; her presence was somehow enjoyable too. Of course, those sudden comments on his hair annoyed him to no end, but later, he shrugged them off, realizing that she wouldn't stop calling him a a pineapple anytime soon.

The same could be told for Tatsuki, also. She was having fun, even more than the Karate practices she and her Sensei did. He was a Shinigami, alright, but he did not use his Shinigami powers at all. She was glad, and briefly wondered why hadn't he just used his powers to win.

Her score was 27 now, and his 29.

A heavy silence fell between the two, as the ball lay in the middle of the Basketball court. Tatsuki and Renji guarded the ball from both the ends, breathing heavily.

Renji huffed; this girl had made him _dead ired_. "So, you do realize that I have a better chance of winning, don't you?"  
Tatsuki shrugged "You never know. But, I am gonna kick your ass."

Renji smirked, his sweaty and clammy palms heavily rested on his knees. He was tired, and seemed more than just 'tempting'. _But_, he convinced himself, food_ is in this matter. I can't leave that alone, now can I?_ A scrreching sound broke his thoughts, as he saw Tatsuki running towards the ball.

Tatsuki ran, and picked up the ball almost instantly. Dribbling the ball easily, she ran towards her net, Renji blocking her way. When she was just a few inches away from Renji, her brown eyes shifted towards her left, hinting Renji. Renji, noticing the obvious movement, shifted his body weight to his left, hoping to snatch the ball from Tatsuki. But, instead moving to her left, as Renji had hoped, she veered to her _right._ Finding an opening, she evaded Renji, the ball not bouncing on the floor for even one second, she ran towards the ring.

Renji's eyes were wide. Amused, his expression turned into that of a smile. Yep, she was still unpredictable.  
But, that didn't mean that he would give up that easily, though.  
He swiveled around, and the next moment he was behind Tatsuki.

"Hey." He whispered, his warm breath hitting the crook of her neck. Tatsuki shuddered, quite red, giving enough time for Renji to easily grab the ball from her. And grab, he did.

"Shimatta!" Tatsuki cursed, turning around on her heel.

Renji grinned, and swiftly turned around, hoping to hear chains of cursing from her lips.

But, instead, something completely unexpected happened. She had pulled him by his collar, forcefully, and had freaking _kissed_ him, almost passionately. Her body was pressed against his, as her breath hit his cheek, sending warm shivers down his body. Her soft mesmerizing lips were locked with his, and they felt so….. _delicious._ He craved for more, and wanted time to stop still for them.

Slowly, very slowly, she retracted her lips from his, and smirked. "I win."

Renji seemed momentarily confused, almost disappointed that they had stopped. "Huh?" he asked. His doubt was soon cleared when the ball hit the floor, after passing through the loop. It continued bouncing, ending with a light 'thud' sound before each bounce. Renji looked down to see the ball missing from where he distinctly remembered was kept.  
Fuck.

"I win." She called his name for the first time, walking toward the ball. She scooped up the round object, before placing it perfectly in her arms. "You owe me a treat. That was fun, by the way, puck me up at 8. Today."

"But," Renji protested "That was cheating!" it _was_ cheating! Hell,that was a freaking kiss, and his first one at that! He was dead surprised (and it was enjoyable.)b and to top it all, he was saving money! Now he had to waste it on a person whom he barely met!

Tatsuki spoke in a triumphant manner "Everything's fair in love and war, Renji."

The Shinigami frowned, and a groan escaped from his lips. Ah, guess it couldn't be helped, huh? "What's your address?" he murmured, annoyed,

Tatsuki stopped mid-track, surprised. She turned her head around, resuming the unusual habit of rotating the ball on the tip of her finger. "Why don't you track down my reiatsu? Or did you forget that, hnn?"

Renji blinked twice. He was taken aback. How did the girl know about the Shinigamis so much? He had not even thought about her suggestion before!

He smiled, as her retreating back, humming a tune.

This girl had class, alright.

**Yeah! My second RenTatsu fanfic!  
Liked it? Hated it? C'mon guys, tell me~~~**


End file.
